Communications & New Media Nov 2015 Vol 29 No 11

Creating a narrative that stands out
Today there are more channels available to send out marketing and
PR messages than ever. However, the age-old challenge of saying
something meaningful remains.
From automated marketing platforms
and influencer marketing to social
media — Twitter and LinkedIn, mostly
— and more traditional bylined articles
and news releases, creating messaging that
stands out — and that people care about —
is crucial. But, as we all know, most companies
find themselves in a marketspace
where “everyone is saying the same thing.”
As we like to say — everyone is trying to
stand out using the same 16 words.
Having been in the messaging trenches
for more than 30 years, I realized that saying
something compelling usually meant
not talking about ourselves (in my case,
clients). This can be counterintuitive for
many executives and founders of companies.
Until recently, most tech companies
were founded by technologists and engineers.
They built cool stuff and expected
the world to be excited about their creation
— and rightfully so. However, working in
a crowded market, frustration would often
appear because the market didn’t get it.
In this article I want to share a few approaches
that we use frequently to help
tech firms create new “messaging spaces.”
I say space in terms of having a Greenfield
so to speak. While a Greenfield is undeveloped,
it represents a clearing within the
crowded and noisy markets we work. We’ll
look at positioning and messaging from a
higher, industry level perspective, and outline
the basics of building a strategic narrative
and how it can not only help with marketing,
but often align companies toward a
common, purposeful goal.
Messaging challenges
Crafting messaging that is truly compelling
and stands out is difficult. Traditional
positioning and messaging approaches often
are too inward and self-centered, and
many companies labor away explaining
how they do things — not what they do.
More importantly, they usually leave it to
others to define the market space. The result
can be satisfactory for the status quo,
but this approach lacks the central “cause”
that all facets of the business can rally behind.
To stand out and say something meaningful,
most organizations have the opportunity
to define existing or new categories
By Guy Murrel
as a means of creating a market-leading
position. The “category story” can serve
as the basis of a corporate narrative that
engages influencers, employees, investors,
partners and customers, and impacts perceptions
and drives positive change. The
narrative becomes more than a marketing
message; it’s a corporate strategy that
reaches all areas of the business. It can be
leveraged through PR and marketing campaigns
and the impact can be profound —
helping align companies and providing a
roadmap to execute against.
Something to consider to help shift messaging
to a higher, more meaningful level is
the strategic narrative, and the role it plays
in guiding organizations and connecting
with communities of people. Strategic
narratives are central to the practice of
international relations. Governments use
narratives strategically to achieve desired
objectives: defining their countries’ identities,
explaining their role in the world,
identifying allies and enemies, establishing
the nature of the relationships among
them; contextualizing historical events, as
well as policy decisions.
High-tech companies can adopt a strategic
narrative approach to messaging as
well, defining the landscape and trends
of the industry that are aimed at a category-focused
level. Take time to develop
a vision for the future that focuses on the
market segment’s growth and promise.
This can become the organization’s cause
and purpose, as the company works to advance
the progress and success of its industry.
This approach can bring a company’s
vision to life, and can extend beyond marketing
as every single person in the organization
can support it. This also facilitates a
single, unified message that is often elusive
for companies of all sizes.
Messaging fundamentals
When developing a strategic narrative,
make sure to incorporate the following elements:
Add context to mega-trends. Most industries
are being disrupted and offer the
opportunity to define the mash-up that
defines new industry dynamics. Aim to
provide insight and context into industry
trends, and provide a viewpoint and opinion
on what’s happening outside of your
own company.
Define and honor
the category. Step outside
of your company
to define the category
as you see it. How can
your company advance
the adoption and the
evolution of the category?
Is there a process or
framework you can develop
and “give” to the
industry? Always make
Guy Murrel
it a priority to champion the overall good
of your category or market space.
Shape a better world. Outline a vision
statement for the industry — where would
you like to see your industry in three to five
years? What contributions can your market
segment make to industry/customers/
mankind?
Define your role. State your company’s
goals and course of action. What overall
role will your company play in the world
you’ve defined? What is the company vision
for innovation? How will it benefit
customers and align with the mega-trends
you’ve defined?
Be inclusive. Don’t define a strategic narrative
that “only applies to us.” Re-shape
a category/industry and welcome visitors,
including competitors! Think how it
touches each and every employee, partner,
customer and influencer. Talk less about
yourself, and more about the world you
live in.
One you have developed a strategic
narrative you can use it for core PR-related
communications and much more. It
should be pervasive across the Website and
leveraged across digital marketing, analyst
relations, media relations, content marketing,
speaking and other thought leadership
initiatives.
The benefits of creating a new and open
space to say something compelling are profound.
Think of any “market leader” and
they likely are the ones defining the market
and pushing the industry narrative. Any
organization can do it — it just takes a very
deliberate approach to thinking big, acting
like a teacher and walking the walk as an
industry leader.
Guy Murrel is Co-founder and Principal
at Catapult PR-IR.
www.ODwyERPR.COM | NOVEMBER 2015 31